that does it for this edition of "360." "early start" begins right now. sandy's stunning aftermath. devastation along the jersey store. you're taking a look at it, homes and lives wiped away. rescue operations still underway as some people remain trapped in water-swamped homes. and new york city struggling to recover. hundreds of thousands are still without power and a flooded subway system remains shut down. more than 80 homes in that tight-knit neighborhood in queens in new york burned to the ground during the storm.

amazingly, just three minor injuries there. and president obama gets the firsthand look at the destruction today as he comes to new jersey. the human toll from sandy, 33 people killed in the u.s., 6.5 million customers remain without power. the total cost of property damage and lost busiest mated betwe business is estimated at $10 to $20 billion. and that could be on the low end. good morning, i'm john berman. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. we have a field of reporters covering the aftermath of sandy from every angle. rob marciano in new york city. dan lothian and paul steinhouser standing by in washington, d.c. and richard quest is also out there for us. >> with 1/3 of the people in new

york city, 2 million people here without power. transportation is at a virtual standstill at a few time where few people have cars, not to mention the property and destux. 80 homes were consumed by fire in keeps. recovery from super storm sandy will be a mammoth job. rob marciano is in the chelsea neighborhood here in new york city. he is joining us live. rob, i was there live yesterday. what was amazing was the exodus of people coming out where it is black right now. many people moving uptown to find power, food and information. >> reporter: yeah, it is stunning. when you go from the typical lit northern manhattan area and come south of 30th street, it just goes completely dark. it is something i have never seen in new york city. the people, the differences in how people react is certainly different as well. they are not used to being without power and walking around

almost stunned. it's been quite the 36 hours, hasn't it? unbelievable storm wreak havoc across the northeast and some of the stunning images out in in queens. it is unknown at this time how the fire started. you can speculate it was electrical or gas. it is certainly always an issue with a storm coming in with winds blowing 8 to, 90, 100 miles an hour. that fire spread quickly. there was a six-alarm fire with 200 firefighters on scene. remarkably, nobody injured. mayor bloomberg, of course, was across the media yesterday trying to calm new yorkers and i form them. here's what they had to say about the situation. >> to describe it as looking like the pictures we have seen as the end of world war ii is not overstating it. the area was completely leveled. chimneys and foundations were all that was left of many of these homes. >> reporter: a lot of people

describing it as a war zone there. as far as the dark area near lower manhattan, at the height of the storm, 8 million without power. the number is now under 7 million. but just down the road from where i stand is the headquarters of con edison. yesterday i managed to talk with the man in charge. he's been doing this sort of thing for over 30 years. and he told me flat out for lower manhattan it will be two to four days before it is completely restored. you talk about the outer boroughs, to westchester county, possibly as much as ten or more days before power is completely restored there. it is like something that he's never seen. >> it was sort of on steroids. and i would have never expected it. i mean, this is new york city, this is not florida or north carolina. we would have never expected to have two years in a row with this kind of damage to our system. >> reporter: as far as mass transit is concerned, limited bus service was instituted last

night. there are 4,000-plus cabs in the city at this point. the subway system, that was inundated with water. third rail got it, that's big problems. we know that the mayor wouldn't go on the record to when it will be restored, he's hoping four or five days. now jfk airport is open, newark is expected to open later today and laguardia with a couple runways under water, that is still closed until further notice. rob marciano, thank you so much. great work this entire storm. >> meantime, in new jersey they are still trying to get a handle on the scope of the devastation left behind by super storm sandy. in the atlantic city area where sandy made landfall, entire neighborhoods are buried by all the sand and debris. in hoboken across the river from manhattan, they called in the national guard to assist with the evacuations there. and in bergen county where a levee breach left hundreds of homes submerged, the situation there remains desperate. about 1,000 people have already been rescued and many more we

understand could be trapped. cnn's brian todd is live from moonachie, new jersey. we'll start with that situation, are there still people trapped? >> reporter: well, i just talked to rescue officials, zoraida, a few blocks down the road here. they are starting to fan out again. they will be fanning out more when first light hits because they were a little reluctant to go in when it was pitch black and too dangerous, but they told me they think just about everyone who needed to be rescued was but they have to go door to door to make sure no one is in desperate need of being rescued. also, here in noonachie, some relief is coming with the water starting to recede. this is east park street. still some floodwaters here, still very problematic for the residents here. there's a firehouse flooded out a block and a half from here, but the rescue teams will be fanning out at first light. and just trying to see who may still need some help here. i'm going to show you where the

water line came up. this house here on the corner of east park street, you can see the water line there. i say it goes up between four and five feet there. and obviously in the biasment level of this house, that was a problem with water coming in. we spoke to some victims last night as they were being taken to a shelter near here. one of them, 91-year-old mildred schwartz who has lived in this town all her live. 91 years old. she was in a wheelchair when they were taking her off the rescue truck and putting her in a shelter. that's where i caught up with her yesterday. take a listen. >> 91 years, i have never seen anything like this ever. >> reporter: can you describe what happened when the water came? >> we were sleeping, my daughter and i. >> reporter: thankfully officials are telling us no fatalities in the three up tos where this occurred. to recap what happened, right

behind me is the hackensack river just a few blocks behind me. monday to tuesday the hackensack breached a berm behind me. three counts including this one near carlstadt were engulfed in a few minutes and people were plucked from the roofs of their houses and were rescued by swift water teams. the rescue teams will be fanning out in the hours ahead, zoraida. >> brian todd live for us, we appreciate it. yesterday we were worried about these people as this was all unfolding. there's a bit of good news there. and the 96-year-old woman who says i have never seen anything like this in my entire life. >> glad she's okay. super storm sandy put presidential politics on hold for the most part, even with the election just six days away. but that's about to stop. today president obama get a firsthand look at the hardest-hit areas of the jersey shore. the president will inspect the disaster scene along with

governor chris christie, a top romney supporter. dan lothian is live in washington. good morning, dan. what is the president's message right now to storm victims? >> reporter: well, it really was two-fold. first of all, he wanted to pledge that the federal government would cut through red tape, cut through all the bureaucracy. he said there would be no excuses for inaction. and that federal agencies should really explore all options even leaning on the military if necessary to get the resources to where they need to get as quickly as possible. but secondly, what the president was also trying to reinforce yesterday was kind of uplifting the spirits of those hit by the storm. some of whom have lost everything saying that america is with you, america will help you get back on your feet. and he praised those who have already jumped in and taken action. >> during the darkness of the storm, i think we also saw what's brightest in america. i think all of us have honestly

been shocked by the force of mother nature as we watch it on television. at the same time, we've also seen nurses at nyu hospital carrying fragile newborns to safety. we have seen incredibly brave firefighters in queens waist deep in water, battling infernos and rescuing people in boats. >> the reality is that cleanup and recovery will take time, so the president is telling governors and mayors that if they get no from federal official agencies, just pick up the phone and call him at the white house. clearly the white house is showing the president on top of this disaster. yes, that's his job, but the election is just a few days away and they understand the politics of this. >> i heard him say, just pick up the phone and call the white house. i thought, wow, that sounds easier than it probably is. here's something we don't normally hear, chris christie

has been praising the president saying he's been outstanding. share some more details on that. >> reporter: that's right. this is someone who is often a critic of the president, but he was not only praising the president but also the administration as a whole saying they jumped in very quickly as the storm was approaching and even after the storm. take a listen to what he had to say. >> this is the livelihood of the people of my state. and when the president does things that deserve praise, i will give him praise. and when the president does things that deserves scorn, i will give him scorn. i think people know that about me, but i'm not going to play politics with this issue. >> reporter: the governor says he has spoken with president obama at least three times by phone. as he pointed out at the top of the show, the president will be headed to new jersey later today. he'll be taking a tour with governor christie to see the damage up close and firsthand. >> dan lothian live in washington, d.c., for us. nice to see you this morning. for more on what you can do to help the victims of super storm sandy, go to

cnn.com/impact. every election we talk about the possibility of an october surprise. well, maybe this time we got one from sandy. it has made this a very, very different race. and after a brief break from politics, the candidates are targeting the final battlegrounds. mitt romney back on the campaign trail today with three stops in florida. the president after touring new jersey today will resume campaigning tomorrow with a rescheduled stop in wisconsin. our political editor paul steinhouser is joining us live from washington this morning. paul, where does this race stand right now? it's kind of been frozen for a few days. >> reporter: it certainly has, but here's where it stands. it is extremely close. take a look at this, john, eight surveys were conducted over the last nine days. eight national surveys, nonpartisan, we put them all together. here's the cnn poll of polls nationally. this is a pretty tight race. mitt romney, 48%. president obama at 47%. basically all tied up. but you and i both know the race for the white house is not a national popular vote, it's the

battle for the state and the electoral votes. these are brand new numbers out from cbs/new york times and quinnipiac. three of the most important battleground states, one is ohio. the president has a five-point advantage for ohio with 18 electoral votes. florida and virginia are also battleground states, basically tied up according to the new numbers from quinnipiac. >> we have heard mitt romney wants to expand the map to michigan, maybe pennsylvania. people saw that as a sign of maybe going on offense, but if the ohio number is really five points or three to five points as we have seen in a number of polls here, it could be that romney needs to find another way to pick up the electoral votes and not get ohio. >> every republican who has won the white house has won ohio. it's tradition, you need it, but there's an avenue for mitt romney to do it without ohio but it is tough. eventually he would have to bring up the score everywhere else in the battleground states

or try to expand the map. >> we are also hearing a lot about fema and mitt romney's position on fema. yesterday he dodged a lot of questions about it in ohio. >> reporter: yeah, and the obama campaign and other democrats are pointing to comments romney made way back in june of 2011 at a cnn republican presidential debate. take a listen. >> fema is about to run out of money and there are some people who say do it on a case-by-case basis and some people say the state should take on a bigger role. how do you deal with that? >> every time you take something from the federal government you need to send it back to the states. that's the right direction. you can go further and send it back to the private sector, that's even better. >> reporter: john king at that debate back in 2011. yesterday mitt romney at a campaign event converted to a disaster relief event in ohio and was asked by reporters a number of times about what he would do with fema. take a listen to what he said.

>> reporter: governor, would you eliminate fema if you were president? >> reporter: what would you do with fema? >> you can see he didn't say much to those questions. the campaign says it would be better for the state to be in charge of disaster relief. >> paul steinhouser, thank you so much. in the next half hour, we'll break down the final six days of the presidential campaign with the former senior adviser to bill clinton and will cain from theblaze.com. like something out of the 1970s, gas is hard to get in storm-ravaged areas. we'll have much more coming up. at shell, we believe the world needs a broader mix of energies. that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal.

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local news making national head lives. gasoline is at a premium in new jersey in the aftermath of super storm sandy. many gas stations have managed to reopen and people seem to be getting the message. we have reports of long lines at the pumps and that could continue for weeks because the garden state's rail system is devastated and may not be back online for quite some time. and this from the boston harold. another casualty of super storm sandy is halloween. cities and towns up and down the east coast have postponed halloween, trick-or-treating, with the downed tree limbs and the power lines that sandy left in its wake. they are worried about that. in new york city, the traditional halloween parade was postponed. mayor bloomberg says it may be rescheduled next week. the storm also wiping out halloween festivities at the white house. you predicted this when the storm was first forming. you said halloween is over. >> this is the second time this happened in these parts. last year halloween was canceled

far lot of neighborhoods and communities. there are a lot of kids who will remember trick or treating. >> christine and i were talking, have your own halloween party at home. bring your kids over. head to our blog, cnn.com/earlystart. coming up, what some banks are doing to help people try to recover from sandy. a little bit of good news there. hmm, it says here that cheerios helps lower cholesterol

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the financial markets are reopening today after hurricane sandy wreaked havoc on new york city. >> christine robins is here on what to expect after the stock market has been closed were the two days. unprecedented. >> it is so rare. 1888, remember that blizzard? that was the last time weather closed down the new york stock exchange. but there were a couple trading glitches that delayed openings and 9/11 when the market was closed for a week. this is unprecedented. we are bracing for a volume surge, perhaps, with a lot of hedge funds and mutual funds and people who trade the end of their fiscal year and the end of the month. there's a lot of things to do. stock futures are up this morning. they have been down the last couple of days, but stock futures are up. we'll closely watch to see how the market shapes up at 9:30 eastern time. we'll be watching movers in a couple categories. the storm suppliers. home depot and lowe's, how will

they do. aig, hartford financial, how will they do? we are already starting to see early estimates of damage and it is big. financials, retailers, airlines, hotels, how will all of these fare on the stock market today? so that's what we are watching for movers, at least. >> we have a little bit of good news because a lot of people got an e-mail from chase saying they don't typically get, we are here to help. >> i heard someone say, i got the nicest e-mail from my bank. they don't want to charge me. it took an act of god, but some of the banks, many of the banks are waiving fees for customers in the storm-ravaged area. you can see the logos and names of many of those things waiving overdraft fees. fees incurred from other bank atms, that's something that is a lucrative money-maker for banks, but if you're in a storm-ravaged area, you can't go picking around places to find what is

going to cost you $1.50 less. those fees are being waived in many places. be a conscious consumer to make sure you're not paying fees you shouldn't. >> a lot of people were walking north yesterday to get to atms working because none of them were working downtown and a lot of people need cash. >> i saw a lot of people in jersey waiting to fill up for gas for chain saws and cars. you'll see lots of lines for food, beer, be patient. bring your patience wherever you go. >> especially the lines for food. >> 26 minutes after the hour right now. up next, the long road to recovery. how the northeast is struggling to cope with the aftermath of sandy. and if you're leaving the house right now, watch us any time on your desk top or mobile phone, just go to cnn.com/tv. [ female announcer ] ready for a taste of what's hot? check out the latest collection of snacks from lean cuisine. creamy spinach artichoke dip,

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the devastation from new jersey unthinkable. that's what the governor is saying there. and people remain trapped in water-swamped homes as rescues are back underway. the subways are nowhere near repair yet and hundreds of thousands of people are still without power. and more than 80 homes in a beachfront neighborhood in queens, new york, burned to the ground during the storm. take a look at the devastation. luckily, only three minor injuries are there. and president obama visits new jersey today for a firsthand look at the destruction. the human toll from sandy, 33 people killed many the united

states, 6.6 million customers now remain without power. and the total cost of property damage and lost busiest mated between $10 to 20 billion. welcome back to "early start." i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm john berman. we have a lot to talk about. >> new york city hard-hit by sandy. flooded subways means transportation is at a virtual standstill, not to mention the property damage and destruction, including 80 homes consumed by the fire in queens. recovery will be as new york mayor michael bloomberg calls it, a mammoth job. meteorologist rob marciano is in new york's chelsea neighborhood and joining us live. we'll get an idea of what's going on in chelsea, but we want to start with kequeens and the massive fire there. what's the latest on the recovery efforts there? >> reporter: remarkably,

zoraida, no injuries. when you think about the expanse of this fire, not sure how it started, in this sort of situation it was probably an electrical or gas situation, but certainly driven by the 80 to 90-mile-an-hour winds of hurricane sandy and those homes there so close together they just went one right after the other after the other. so 80-plus homes completely destroyed. six-alarm blaze. and with 200 firefighters on scene at the time, obviously that fire is now out, but it is remarkable nobody was hurt. at the time, it certainly looked i credibly scary. >> it was horrific. much of the area below 26th street is without electricity. do we have any idea when it could be restored for those folks? >> reporter: well, the quick answer to that is two to four days for lower manhattan. some of that darkness goes as far north as 39th street. yesterday just across the street here con ed son headquarters, i

got into their situation room and tracked down the incident commander who said outside of new york city in some of the outer boroughs and north towards westchester could be as many as ten days. he's never seen anything like this. the substation creating the problem in manhattan is on 14th street by the east river. that floodwall that protects it is built for a 12.6 storm surge. that would be historic. well, sandy is oning a 13.8-foot storm surge. obviously, that's the reason they had the issue. here's what he had to say about what they might have to do going forward. >> substations were only part of the problem. we had the luxury of the underground network in manhattan, no wires, very reliable, most reliable system in the country, but it is not designed to be mixed with salt water, sea water. that's something we'll have to look at, especially if these things are going to be happening more frequently.

>> reporter: so the underground situation is very reliable, except for when it floods, like it did this time. and there's been recommendations in the past as sea levels creep up, what do we do about the substations now after this situation? it may be time to take action. it would be very, very costly. obviously, that's the question that will have to be discussed going forward. >> rob, i mentioned you in the chelsea neighborhood, it is hard to see behind you with no lights there, but that's the area where the facade got blown off the building, right? >> reporter: yeah, incredible here on 8th avenue and 14th street, that facade is an unlicensed hotel that was ripped off. people got out in time. they kind of felt like something was going to happen. nobody was hurt there. so the death toll certainly is striking, but when you see some of the pictures and hear some of the stories, the fact that more people weren't seriously injured is certainly encouraging. >> rob marciano live for us covering this storm all over the place. we really appreciate you this

morning. thank you. >> he's one of the many people doing a great job. >> absolutely. the jersey shore took a tremendous hit from hurricane sandy. this is what's left of the boardwalk in belmar. the storm also destroyed many businesses along the boardwalk and long beach island and beachhaven were devastated by hurricane sandy. look at that. sand everywhere, flooded out streets and homes in both place where is they simply should not be. >> 250,000 pounds still dangling 90 stories up. this is new york city. it could take weeks to secure this huge damaged crane boom left dangling by sandy. the plan may involve getting a new crane up there in order to secure that one. when asked how secure the boom is, mayor michael bloomberg responded by saying nobody knows. that is not encouraging. frightening moments at the nyu langone medical center was evacuated after the backup

generator failed. this baby alice was born sunday four weeks prematurely. charles lived with his family on the 13th floor when he heard the power was going to go and he told anderson cooper what happened. >> i heard the nurses talking about how in 15 minutes that all the electricity was going to be going down. so obviously like a good father i scooted right back to my room and told my wife, kim, and we started talking about what was going to be the next step. >> look at that baby there. >> that's a fighter baby, i call it. because i was watching this and he was holding his head up. that's a fighter baby. >> he's an awesome baby. he stuck it out overnight. mother and daughter were released from the hospital tuesday morning after tracking down 13 flights of stairs. everyone is doing just fine this morning. >> nice to see stories like that. following a brief hiatus for the storm, president obama and

mitt romney return to the campaign trail, and with less than a week before the voters head to the polls, it is unclear exactly how much the storm's fallout will affect the outcome of the election. >> this morning to break it all down for us, former senior advise tore president clinton and new yorker.com writer richard sweeney and will kane who does have electricity this morning. i have to warn you about the moods right now. electricity, no electricity. >> the other way. >> sorry. this may cheer you up. we have some new state polls out, just minutes ago from the new york times and quinnipiac show the race close but in one key state barack obama appearing to open up a lead. that's ohio. look at that. 50 to 45. florida, 48 to 47. virginia, 49 to 47. i want to talk about ohio, richard, bauds we have seen a number consistently because two to five points the last week.

do you think democrats are feeling pretty safe now about ohio? >> i think we all think it is still very close. i think it is, you know, all the polls in ohio consistently have shown the president with a slight or small lead. we think we are going to win ohio. no republican has won the presidency without ohio. we think we saw the other numbers in florida and virginia. if the president wins ohio, florida and virginia, it is over. >> will? >> i don't know if it is over but it makes it difficult. it is like bogeying on the hole and saying you got a par every hole out. if romney loses ohio, he has to put wins together in up likely states like wisconsin, iowa, nevada, you can put together a map where he wins, but it becomes historically unlikely. >> i want to get back to super storm sandy because she seriously impacted this election. we heard governor chris christie say something he virtually has

never said before praising obama. let's listen and then talk. >> i am not going to play politics with this issue. this is so much bigger than an election. this is the livelihood of the people of my state. what i'm expected to do is get the job done and when someone asks me an honest question, i give an honest question. how has the president been? he's been outstanding to working on this and i look forward to seeing him tomorrow so he can see for himself what the hurricane has done to my state. >> what do you think, does this affect the outcome of the election at all? >> no. i think the effects of the storm and secondary the comments from chris christie are minimal. someone asked me this morning, and i have only been up for 30 minutes, they asked me, do you think chris christie wishes mitt romney would lose because of 2016 and whatnot? hasn't chris christie at this point, except for the most extreme cynic, earned his right to what he said?

he believes that president obama deserves praise. he's going to give it to him. there's no calculated reason he is giving president obama credit. beyond the fact that he thinks president obama deserves it. >> well, you know, this is classic chris christie. he likes everybody to think that he means what he says and he says what he means. you take him by his word. >> today you do, right? >> when he praises romney -- >> i think he's sincere when he praises romney, i just think he's wrong. in this case we think he's exactly right. >> let's talk more about mitt romney and the hurricane because the issue of fema and funding, federal funding for fema has come up. it all started with the republican primary that is hosted by cnn's john king when mitt romney was asked a question about fema. let's listen. >> there are some people who say to do it on a case-by-case basis and others say maybe we are learning a lesson here with the state taking on more. how do you deal with something like that? >> absolutely. every time you have an occasion to take something from the

federal government and accepted it back to the states, that's the right direction. and if you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that's even better. >> now there are democrats saying this is mitt romney saying he wants to privatize fema, what does that mean in the wake of a disaster like this? are these tough questions for mitt romney right now l? >> i think in the wake of the emotional news story, the concept of federalism doesn't really break through. but with mitt romney, first of all, ever endorsing in general the concept of federalists. whatever you can do at the local and state level is better done than at the federal level. secondly, on the concept of fema specifically, just because this is a highly emotional moment and many people are hurting because of the storm doesn't mean the federal government is always the best position to be the source of aid. and i always ask you to look back at any national tragedy from katrina to hurricane andrew, you ask yourself, did fema come through that without

criticism? did everyone believe fema was the best source of aid in that situation? the local governments could be better sources to handle these situations. >> i think historically a smart and efficient federal response has saved a lot of lives and helped a lot of people. but you should be careful not to politicize this today, but i do think that he's going to have to answer these questions. they have five days to go, six days to go, we are in the middle of this disaster. these questions are going to come up until he gives a real answer. >> i was watching the press conference yesterday with president obama addressing this at the red cross and what he said was that the states need to take this issue at hand. so do the private companies. they need to lean forward and that fema is there for them. so it was an interesting response also in the -- that's what i thought, but i'm not quite sure there. it is nice to have you weigh in on that. >> when mitt romney said that at

the debate, he really said this is his theory of government. less government, there should be more private sector, there should be more state and local. >> and he was not answering those questions on the trail yesterday. we'll see if he gets more of them today. will kane, always eager to talk to you so early in the morning. keep it here on cnn and join us tuesday night. why is tuesday night a big night? oh, yeah, it's election night! our live coverage of election night in america begins at 6:00 p.m. eastern time. >> and president obama gets a closer look at the results of sandy's fury. he'll be in new jersey with republican governor chris christie as we just mentioned. coming up, where things stand after sandy. smart comes with 8 airbags, 3 a crash management system and the world's only tridion safety cell which can withstand over three and a half tons. small in size. big on safety.

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devastation there. the storm is blamed for at least 33 deaths. this is across the east coast. 22 of them in new york. the total of 6.6 million people do not have electricity across 15 states and d.c. new york subways are still flooded. so buses will run regular routes today. and buses are actually free in new york city today. other news now with a guilty plea in arizona with the man accused of border patrol agent brian kerry. the 36-year-old manuel osorio-arellanes could be sentence sentence sentenced in january. he and four other mexican men were looking for drug traffickers to rob. police in virginia are looking for a suspect in three bomb attacks. investigators want to know who put homemade explosives outside two stafford county homes. those two incidents were linked to a third explosion tuesday

inside a house in fredericksburg. no injuries. no injuries were reported. and a victory parade set for today in san francisco to honor the san francisco giants. this year's world series champions. a lot of people weren't paying attention to this because of the storm. up to a million fans are expected to help celebrate the gian giants' sweep of the world series. the parade kicks off near market street at 11:00. >> they have a trophy? it's the world series. >> they have won two of the last three, they deserve it. the celebration will be at civic center plaza. congratulations to the san francisco giants. ahead on "early start," the deciders, every day americans to pick the next president. miguel marquez talks to those where the highest national unemployment rate is. dredalorie. new yoplait greek 100. it is so good.

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they are the deciders. ordinary americans who will head to the polls in six days to pick the next president. it is an agonizing choice for folks in northwest, nevada, one of the final battlegrounds. the revelry was tempered but the unemployment rate what is top in the nation. to begin my insiders tour, we stopped this morning in nevada. >> here we are in the saddle in reno, nevada, here in the northwest corner of the state that could make the difference. with julie winkle, what do you

expect of the next president? >> i hope the next president can turn things around so we can get back to where we were four years ago or eight years ago even. >> reporter: winkle says the recession devastated her horse's life work. these horses are highly trained, aren't they? >> yes, they are. >> reporter: she says the recovery under romney would be better. today is the halloween show at maple stable. yes, that's little bo peep and a harley horsey. reno loves halloween. downtown it was the dog costume show that. today it is all about what her dogs don't need. the dogs in a pumpkin dress. mimi is really mean, oh, she's a witch. of course, mimi is a witch. yes, i agree, you're a witch. her husband works construction. they have two kids.

the last four years have been tough, she says, but obama's health and education policies are what get her vote. as for the economy -- do you think anybody can fix the problem? >> i think it's going to take a lot of work to do it, but i think it will. >> reporter: the unemployment rate across nevada, nearly 12%, the nation's highest, but polls here consistently show obama up by a point or two. zombies crawling through reno, driving their own agenda. what is on the zombie agenda this week. >> the zombie agenda, lots of butchering, slicing and dicing of the budget. >> reporter: she's a zombie for romney but most of the undead have otherening things on their minds. how many of you are undecided voters? >> hey! >> reporter: it is all ant the brains. now we know where the undecided

voters are. >> thank you, miguel. right now it is a roll of the dice in the battleground state of nevada. the final stop on the tour takes him to vegas. we'll check in with him on friday. >> i think he'll be on stage with celine dion or something. he is the best. ahead, some must-see video of super storm sandy's extraordinary might and wrath. just wait until you see what happened to many massive tree. you will not believe it. you're watching "early start." that's true. ...but you still have to go to the gym. ♪ the one and only, cheerios

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welcome back. it is 58 minutes past the hour.

we are taking a look at the top cnn trends on the web this morning. so we have extraordinary video to share with you. capturing the full fury of super storm sandy right in his backyard. >> there it goes. there it goes. >> this is not going to end well. >> uh-oh. >> look at the roots of that. that's a big tree. that was shot by matthew wineshrider of long island. meanwhile, there has been a major disturbance in the force. the walt disney company is buying the star wars business. this caught a lot of people by surprise yesterday. you can see the chairman of the walt disney company there, they are buying lucas films, the film owner there is george lucas with mickey mouse. george lucas owns the star wars

franchise and a whole bunch of things, but the thing that got a whole bunch of people's attention is that in the announcement disney will launch a new star wars trilogy starting with star wars episode 7 that will of the jedi. ewoks. star wars. a lot of people are talking. what will star wars 7 through 9 look like? >> a lot of people are talking. >> a lot of boy people i know are talking. it will start in 2015 and release a new film every two years. >> i have to tell you folks that you can't see this, he did this all off the top of his head. you own that story. you're very excited. >> i'm our senior star wars reporter. >> all right. "early start" continues right now. sandy's stunning aftermath. devastation along the jersey shore. homes and lives wiped away. >> rescue operations are still

under way as some remain trapped in water-swamped homes. >> new york city struggling to recover. millions still without power. and the flooded subway system remains shut down. >> more than 80 homes in a tight-knit neighborhood in queens, new york, burned to the ground. take a look at those pictures. amazingly, though, just three minor injuries. and president obama gets a firsthand look today at the destruction as he heads to new jersey. he will tour the jersey shore. the human toll from sandy. 33 people killed in the united states. 6.6 million customers remaybe without power. the total cost of territory damage and lost business estimated between $10 billion and $20 billion. good morning to you and welcome to "early start." i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm john berman. it's 6:01 in the east. a lot to talk about this morning. >> so up first we have life after sandy. new jersey bore the brunt of the hurricane superstorm.

people alone the jersey shore suffered what governor christie called unthinkable devastation. you're looking at the pictures there. that's what he's referring to. in just a few hours, president obama will join the governor for a firsthand look at the damaged areas in the garden state. the president has promised a can-do attitude when it comes to federal assistance. sandra endo is live in atlantic city where sandy made landfall. good morning, sandra. governor christie has been praising obama's response -- >> good morning. >> good morning to you. so let's start here with chris christie's response here. he has been praising president obama. something we typically don't hear. >> right. and governor christy is saying this is a bipartisan issue. this is not about politics. because take a look. we're here on a main street in atlantic city. several blocks from the waterfront of this bayside community and you can see a kayak was washed ashore because of the storm. and this is only a little bit of the damage we've been seeing.

take a look at this. this is a small houseboat that was torn from the pier. you see the pilings it was attached to, and it was just swept into the middle of this intersection here on the street. and this is the type of damage and destruction, zoraida, that the president will see firsthand when he comes here later this afternoon to tour this damage. he will talk to first responders and victims of the storm, and he spent three days off the campaign trail, because of the storm, and now he has to walk a fine line of anything as president, to console families who have felt the impact of the storm, while making it not look like merely a photo-op. as you mention it's interesting to note that he'll be joined by staunch republican and mitt romney supporter governor chris christie, who actually praised president obama for the federal response. >> this is the people in my state and when the president

does things that deserve praise, i will give him praise. and when the president does things that deserve scorn, i'll give him scorn. and i think people know that about me. but i am not going to play politics with these issues. >> again, governor christy saying this is all about just trying to get new jersey back on its feet, because six people chied in this state. 2.6 million people are without power. this is an area that is struggling to just dig out from under the flood, and wind damage, and in this area alone, now police are saying they're worried about looting and it's been under curfew, at least for the last couple of nights. zoraida? >> it's certainly something we don't want to politicize. sandra endo live for us in atlantic city. >> in sandy's wake more than 6.5 million people are still without electricity, close to 2 million of people in new york. flooded subways mean the transportation is virtually at a standstill. and just so you know what this means, millions and millions and

millions of new yorkers, the subways are the only way to get around. now what you're looking at right there, immense property damage and destruction, including at least 80 homes consumed by fire in queens. the recovery from superstorm sandy as mark mayor michael bloomberg calls it, a mammoth job. meteorologist rob marciano is in new york's chelsea neighborhood. he joins us live this morning. rob, there is serious black right there behind you, by the way, because there is no power down where you are. so is there much to clean up. >> there is. south of 29th street it goes dark. on the east side south of 39th street it goes dark. we knew the storm was coming. utility companies were preparing for it. but you almost don't believe it until you see it, right? incredible storm surge took these substations out that have knocked out power across lower manhattan and across much of new york, not to mention what's going on across the northeast. just down the road from here, that's the headquarters, which by the way has power, you can

charge your phone in there, we tracked down the incident commander to get a feel for what it takes to get this city back online and what we can expect going forward. here's what he had to say about the situation. >> it was more -- it was sort of on steroids and i would have never expected it. i mean, new york city. this is not florida or north carolina. we'd have never expected to have two years in a row with this kind of damage to us. >> here's what they didn't expect. a 13-8 foot storm surge. the substation that pretty much controls all of lower manhattan is on the east river and that is built to withstand a 12.6 foot storm. this blew that out of the water. they've got to dry that out. obviously all the infrastructure is underground, which is great for everything, except flooding which is what happened. so we estimate two to four days before all of lower manhattan is back on power. there are some spots, including the new york stock exchange that are back on power. outside of new york in the outer

boroughs and west of the county, maybe as much as ten days before all those areas are back online. pretty remarkable stuff. >> rob marciano in chelsea at the subways. thanks a lot, rob. >> six minutes past the hour. the election just six days away, the october surprise anticipated by many hasn't come from a shadowy super pac but it may have been delivered this week by superstorm sandy. after a brief break from politics the candidates will be back in the final battleground. mitt romney has three stops in florida today. the president resumes campaigning tomorrow with a rescheduled stop in wisconsin. cnn's political editor paul steinhauser is live from washington for us. and, paul, where does the race stand right now? give us the overview and perspective? >> as you mention sandy basically closed the campaign in time. here's where it stands. nationally there have been eight polls, live operators, nonpartisan polls, basically after the last presidential debate. cnn poll of polls, average them

all together and basically it is a dead heat. mitt romney at 48%, president at 47%. zoraida you know and i know the battle for the white house is a battle for the states and their electoral votes. take a look at these numbers brand new out this morning. on the left, ohio, such an important battleground state. you see the president with a five-point advantage. we've seen other polls show the president with leads anywhere from about 2 to 4 points. basically dead heats in florida and virginia. two other incredibly critical battleground states. zoraida? >> and, paul, in the wake of sandy a lot of attention on romney's position on fema, as well. he dodged the question in ohio yesterday. what can you tell us about that? >> well, democrats in the obama campaign are pointing back to some comments that mitt romney made way back in 2011 at a cnn debate. republican presidential debate moderated by our john king. take a listen. >> fema's about to run out of money. there are some people do it by a case by case basis.

some people say maybe we're learning a lesson here the states should take on more of this. how do you deal with something like that? >> every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that's the right direction. and if you go even further and send it back to the private sector, that's even better. >> yesterday mitt romney was in ohio. at a campaign event, he converted it into a disaster relief event giving volunteers to give goods for people hurt by the storm. mitt romney at that event was asked a number of times by reporters what he would do with fema. take a listen. >> governor, what should fema's role be? >> would you eliminate fema if you were president? >> governor you've been asked 14 times today what you'd do with fema. what's your response? why wooent won't you answer questions about it? >> no response. his campaign tells us they believe that the governor believes that the states should be in charge of disaster relief. zoraida. >> we were talking to our

political panel about this earlier and the big question is why doesn't he just answer the question, right? could that hurt him? paul steinhauser live in washington for us. thank you. >> almost ten minutes after the hour right now. hoboken, new jersey, was left flooded out by sandy. as many as half of the city residents are stranded by floodwaters. the national guard has arrived to help with rescues and deliver supplies. we will tell you there live coming up next. or that printing in color had to cost a fortune. nobody said an all-in-one had to be bulky. or that you had to print from your desk. at least, nobody said it to us. introducing the business smart inkjet all-in-one series from brother. easy to use, it's the ultimate combination of speed, small size, and low-cost printing.

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out. the city's mayor pleaded for help from the national guard and she got her wish. the first guard members arrived late last night. the national guard is using heavy equipment to deliver supplies, and help rescue stranded residents. they need the help. meet oreologist bob van dillen is live in hoboken with more. how does it look? >> yeah, john, good morning to you. let me show you what's going on. the water actually has come down just a little bit from last night. look at the flooding. you see the exact line where it was at its highest point. you can see that brown smudge line up there. and the consistency of the water is really bad. it's putrid. you can smell the fuel mixing in with sewage, debris, you've got the fuel. the only thing i can really equate that water to, people are actually walking through it believe it or not, to get to their places, it's just like that star wars scene, the trash compactor water where the monster comes up and looks around, that's exactly what it looks like. it's unreal. even getting here this morning was a pain in the neck. the national guard camein, which was great, but they had

all kind of road closures still due to water. there's no power in the city. we're trying to weave in and out of the cities to get here safely. there are live wires down. even getting here from newark, usually you can see manhattan it's lit up beautiful, newark beautifully. newark is black. no lights on. southern tip of manhattan totally black as well and no cars on the road. it was absolutely really terrifying coming in here this morning because i've never seen it like that. >> bob van dillen in hoboken. there's a great reminder. it's not just the water level it's sanitation and hygiene. water is very, very dangerous. thanks a lot, bob. >> 15 minutes past the hour. another hard-hit area, the jersey shore. homes, beaches, the boardwalk, amusement parks, suffering a lot of damage. new jersey governor chris christie, in a tour over the jersey shore describes the devastation as unthinkable. >> let me start with i just never thought i would see what i saw today. ever.

we started in delmar when i walked on the boardwalk in delmar this summer. it's gone. not there. >> that's just incredible. joining us on the phone is a representative from that area. congressman this morning, are you there, sir? >> yes. >> i know you're incredibly busy so i really appreciate you taking the time to spend with us. let's start with any ongoing search and rescue missions. are there any ongoing right now that you're aware of? >> well, as of yesterday, you know, i was going around until about i guess 7:00 at night. there were still efforts. some of the towns, you know, trying to find out if there were people left in their homes. particularly, you know, in places that had a lot of devastation. i mean, there were people missing. but it could very well be that they just evacuated them and they couldn't be found. so, i think on the whole, you

know, the emergency management people did a good job of evacuating people and getting people out, and for the most part, people are, you know, going back to their homes if the homes were still there. of course many people have lost their homes and couldn't go back. >> i know that it's really tough to assess the situation fully right now but do we know anything about the people that are still without power and when, perhaps, that will be restored for them? >> well, it could be, you know, they're saying it could take a week or even longer. but i'm hoping that for many people it will be sooner than that. but i think that one of the things that you mentioned, and i would stress again, is you know, we have to be very careful when people go back or people leave their houses, about downed power lines and gas lines that are broken, as well as many situations where you could smell the gas, and of course the utility people are working on this. but people have to be extremely careful because there are just a lot of downed power lines and

broken gas lines throughout the shore area. >> and congressman i don't know if you're watching right now but we were just taking a look at the massive rescue effort there. you know, somebody was carrying somebody on their back to safety. >> that was incredible. you know, when i saw the emergency management people and what they were doing and risking their own lives in many cases to rescue people, they were just wonder. they just went in and do whatever they could to get people out. >> just an incredible effort. congressman pallone we so appreciate you spending some time with us this morning. we wish you a great deal of luck. >> thank you so much. >> it's like something out of the 1970s. gas is suddenly hard to get. lines in new jersey and storm ravaged areas really feeling it, lining up for gas. the lines and more information. we'll have it all coming up. [ ross ] we are in the dades gorge,

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welcome back. it is 22 minutes past the hour. we are minding your business this morning. people living in the path of destruction from hurricane sandy not only have to deal with the damage for their homes but long lines for gas for their cars. >> tough pictures to look at. what's going on with these lines? >> with these pictures from new jersey yesterday, these are folks waiting in line to fill up, you know, containers of gas,

fill up their cars with gas. a couple things happening here. new jersey with no rail service, no public transportation, people want to make sure they definitely have a full tank gas. right? there's also people worried that there are going to be supply disruptions because the refineries are down. but those are coming back online. and also, look, you got to fill up gas cans for your chainsaws, for whatever. so people are just trying to make sure they have energy. a couple of experts we talked to said these are going to be pockets of concern but don't worry about real shortages at all there. you're going to be seeing more of that. but don't get too concerned. gas price is actually falling a little bit right now. can't predict where they're going to go next. >> big news. stock market is finally reopening. >> finally. after two days the new york stock exchange will reopen. the nasdaq at 9:30. futures are still a little bit higher. a lot of different moving sectors probably because of the storm damage, right? all of the obvious movers. you've got earnings still coming through. and you've got a jobs report on

friday. and you've got an election on tuesday. all i have to say is really kind of the pressure time right now for investors. i expect you're going to see some really good volume, and a really important time of the calendar. so we'll be watching all of those very closely. >> i have to say. i listen to everything you say very, very carefully. you say one thing over the last 24 hours. the first time i heard you say it about insurance. i picked up the phone an called my wife immediately. >> you need to find out if you have something called a hurricane deductible. probably going to kick in for you. your deductible because sandy went into the hurricane your deductible will likely be a percentage of the value of your home, not the $500 or $100 or $5,000 you might be expecting. check the very first page of your insurance policy. the declaration part, find out what your hurricane deductible is. hurricane andrew back in 1992, the insurance companies put in these clauses that trigger higher deductibles if a storm makes landfall as a hurricane. this can vary by state, by policy, by company, how far you

are from the shore. sometimes it's a category 2 hurricane that triggers the deductible. but check. generally you pay more out of pocket than if your house were slammed by your run of the mill hailstorm or thunderstorm. let me give you an example. typical $300,000 house with a $500 start deductible. right? it could have a hurricane deductible of up to 5% of the value of the home. that means out of pocket cost is not $500, the deductible you think it is, it's $15,000. 18 states, district of columbia, they have hurricane deductibles. every state that was hit by sandy has them. tell you about your car, too, quickly. your car is covered under your car insurance. your car is flooded out, wind damage, that's under your car insurance. comprehensive car insurance will cover it. if you have liability only, you're out of luck. >> what is the one thing that we need to know today other than that? >> bring your patience everywhere. whether you're getting gas and bring your paperwork everywhere if you're trying to deal with insurance companies. there are thousands of insurance

adjusters who are all around the storm zone right now just waiting for the go-ahead to get in. i talked to people yesterday who actually had an adjuster yesterday already on site. >> no way. >> yes, in new jersey. so be prepared. be patient. bring your paperwork and we'll all get through this. >> something you told me yesterday, don't start any work until you do have that adjuster out. >> yeah, make sure you talk to the insurance company before you give any work, give anybody money. >> 26 minutes past the hour. still ahead the recovery from sandy begins in hard-hit new jersey with some people still in harm's way.[ emale announcer ] m the naturally sweet monk fruit, something this delicious could only come from nature. now from the maker of splenda sweeteners, discover nectresse. the only 100% natural, no-calorie sweetener made from the goodness of fruit. the rich, sweet taste of sugar. nothing artificial. ♪ it's all that sweet ever needs to be. new nectresse.

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the damage from sandy in new jersey simply devastating. homes and lives wiped away along the shore. >> boats being deployed to rescue people who remain trapped in water-swamped homes. >> in new york city the buses are back. but the subways are nowhere near

repair yet. hundreds of thousands are still without power. and this is affecting millions of lives, because people cannot get in to work. and even if they do live here, they can't get from one side of town to the other without walking. >> more than 80 homes in a beachfront neighborhood in kweebs burned to the ground during the storm, but only three minor injuries reported there. president obama visits new jersey today for a firsthand look at all of the destruction there. the human toll from sandy, 33 people killed in the united states. 6.6 million customers, that's a lot, remain without power right now. the total cost of property damage and lost business estimated between $10 billion and $20 billion. welcome back to already already everyone, i'm john berman. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. nice to have you with us. it is 30 minutes past the hour. >> there is unimaginable devastation in new jersey. officials still trying to get a handle on the scope of the damage left behind by this superstorm sandy. in the atlantic city area, where sandy made landfall entire

neighborhoods are buried by sand and debris. and in hoboken across the river from manhattan they called in the national guard to assist with evacuation. and in bergen county where a leavee breach left hundreds of homes submerged, the situation remains desperate. about 1,000 people have been rescued and many more are still trapped. brian todd joins us from the scene there where they're doing those rescues. and what's the latest? >> well, john, rescue teams are set to fan out again this morning. at first light they're going to be just kind of going around these streets trying to see if anyone still needs help. they're going to get some help naturally because the floodwaters have started to recede. on this street alone the waters have receded pretty drastically just from where they were where i was standing an hour and a half ago. some of the water receding. this is going to be a day when people will come back to their homes in these areas, seeing if their habitable. seeing what the damage is. it's going to be a heartbreaking day for thousands of people in the three towns. the town where i am, moonachie,

little ferry got affected by that breach and also carlstadt. talked to two residents of those towns yesterday, of moonachie, two elderly residents. both of them have lived here for a long, long time, and they talked about just the horrific story of what happened when that levee breached and this town was flooded. >> i've never seen anything like this ever. >> can you describe what happened when the water came? >> we were sleeping. my daughter and i, all of a sudden the water came in like a river. >> thank god i got out of there. my kitchens are full. and then my living room is full. so i lost everything. my sofa, everything. >> so for those ladies and thousands of others, today is a day where they're going to come back to these homes to see

what's happened there, they can repair any of the damages, if the homes are even habitable at this point. luckily we've had no reports of fatalities in any of these three towns that were affected. some minor injuries but no fatalitie fatalities. >> brian, the damage is still being assessed, obviously. what do you know about the overall fallout there? >> well it's going to be a lot of economic fallout. i mean, because businesses are damaged. there's a firehouse that was flooded out just a short way from here, about a block and a half from here. i talked to the county executive, the bergen county executive, kathleen donovan, she was just coming from some of the areas to assess some of the damage while the rescues were still going on yesterday. when i talked to her. here's what she had to say. >> in the aftermath of the flood it's all the debris that's left behind, it's people who are in misery because they didn't expect it. it's not something that anyone ever had been through, anybody

who is alive today. it was totally unexpected. it was scary. it was 1:00 in the morning. it was raining and high winds all day long. they had just been through a terrible ordeal. >> and to make matters worse yesterday, there was a second high tide from the hackensack river, the waters actually breached the berm near the hackensack river, the tidal river, it was a second high tide from that river that came in last evening. so that made matters worse here, john. but the water now starting to recede. i'm seeing cars coming in on the main drag over here. people are just starting to filter back into town. >> all right, brian todd live in moonachie, new jersey. thank you so much for joining us. >> 34 minutes past the hour. it's not a campaign event but president obama visits new jersey will likely dominate the presidential campaign. >> he'll tour one of the hardest-hit areas of new jersey. republican governor chris christie who is one of mitt romney's top supporters. cnn's dan lothian is live in washington. and dan, what do we expect the

president's message to the storm victims will be today? >> well the message will be much like what we heard yesterday, that if you're one of these affected areas, whether it's in the state of new jersey or new york or some of the other states where the storm came through, whatever you need from the federal government, you'll get it. no bureaucracy, no red tape, no excuses. the president even leaning on federal agencies, saying that they did it for all options in order to make sure that whatever is needed, those recourses will get to the destination as quickly as possible. but also the president today will be consoler in chief, if you will. talking about how america has the back of those who have been impacted by the storm. how america will help you get back on their feet. and you heard from the president yesterday, praising those who jumped in to help. >> during the darkness of the storm, i think we also saw what is brightest in america. i think all the photography that was shot by the force of mother

nature, as we watched it on television, at the same time we've also seen nurses and nyu hospitals carrying fragile newborns to safety. we've seen incredibly brave firefighters in queens, waist deep in water, battling infernos, rescuing people in boats. the white house has been working very hard to show that the president has been on top of this. holding various video conferences. releasing a couple of photos of the president in the situation room getting briefings. yes, this is all part of his job, but we're just a few days away from election day, and the white house understands the politics of this, as well. john, zoraida? >> dan, new jersey governor chris christie has been actually praising the president, something that we don't often hear. he's been saying that the work that he's doing is outstanding. what can you tell us about that? >> that's right. this is someone who's been a vocal critic of the president but he did point out not only that the president has been doing a good job but that the overall administration has been

helping out. as you know, the president did declare a state of emergency for the state of new jersey, new york, and several other states, and that a disaster declaration, as well, the president signed that. and so, governor christie praising the president and the administration. take a look at what he has to say. >> this is for the people in my state. and when the president does things that deserve praise i will give him praise. and when the president does things that deserve scorn, i'll give him scorn. i think people know that about me. but i'm not going to play politics with this issue. >> governor christie said that the president has spoken with him at least three times by phone. he, of course, will be joining the president on that tour when president obama heads to new jersey later today to see the damage up close. >> all right, dan lothian live in washington, d.c. for us, thank you. nice to see you. and after something of a hiatus for the storm, both president obama and mitt romney will be back on the campaign trail by the end of the week.

mitt romney is back on the trail today. >> let's bring back former senior adviser to president clinton and newyorker.com writer richard socarides and cnn contributor and columnist, will cain. so both candidates back on the trail this week. how do you think the storms will affect the race? and you know the early voting. >> you know, i don't know that it will have any big impact logistically, zoraida, on how the election plays out. most of the early voting states didn't have in-person early voting anyway. but i don't think it's going to have any big effect on the election. you talk about a hiatus, both of you mentioned it, john and zoraida. i think it's a little bit of a healthy hiatus. obviously we're not talking about the storm being a good thing. but to stop the constant cycle of did you hear this gaffe, and oh, my gosh on the campaign trail. step back for a moment, remember real life and ask yourself, what's really important regarding the votes you're going to make a week from now. >> good point. and we certainly hope it doesn't impact actual voting. it's too soon to tell and we

don't know how quickly some of these areas are going to recover. but if you're in a disaster area, it may by next tuesday be hard to go vote. we hope that doesn't happen. also i would agree with will, i think it's going to -- i think the rhetoric is going to be slightly res sharp. and i think people, and the candidates, will have to adjust. i think at the very end, it usually gets very contentious. but i think it will be slightly softer, and you know, we've never had this before so we'll have to see what happens. >> what about they were saying give the president a chance to look presidential. does that matter? >> i think that the people expect the president to do his job. and i think people will expect governor romney to do his job, which is to be a candidate at this point. it was interesting with bill clinton, when i worked with bill clinton, if there was a hurricane, if there was a tornado, he was always out there and people criticized him for being a little bit too much in that sort of arena. but he was a governor. he was used to this. and he thought it was part of his job as president to be out

there consoling people. i think president obama feels the same way. >> want to ask quickly, because we've got the feel-good talk about coming to the, let's get back down to politics here. >> all right. >> we have the swing state polls, and i can't not talk about ohio, virginia, florida, the ohio number shows the president on top, 50-45. florida and virginia, really, really tight here. are we getting any signs about where this is going next tuesday from these swing state polls? >> i don't know, john. i mean, i don't have a crystal ball and read into these polls. i will say this and you had mentioned it this morning. that ohio poll, these ohio polls have consistently shown a lead for president obama, anywhere from two to five points. hat does that tell us about what ohio will look like next week? i don't know. but whatever happens there, whatever happens in ohio, will have huge ramifications. we all know ohio is the most important state out of the presidential election turns out. >> it's going to be a very close election by all signs. even though i think president obama has a slight edge, he's

slightly ahead as an incumbent you would expect that. but i think it's very important for everybody to go out and vote. >> i'm going to go back to the storm sandy here, and something that's a little controversial that's coming up. and that is global warming. because i'd like both of your perspectives on that. new york governor cuomo suggesting the reason the natural disasters might be the result of climate change. let's listen. >> there has been a series of extreme weather incidents, anyone that's not a political statement, that is a factual statement. anyone who says there's not a dramatic change in weather patterns, i think, is denying reality. we have a new reality when it comes to these weather patterns. we have an old infrastructure and we have old systems. and that is not a good combination. >> so he's joined by new york city mayor michael bloomberg, vice president al gore, in suggesting, you know, the correlation. what do you think? >> i think it's absurd. i think that climate change

activists make an argument, and i think it's a fair one, that when someone who denies manmade climate change points to, well this was a cold summer in florida, reconcile that with global climate change, it's totally nonsense. this, by the same logic, is anecdotal and nonsense. you cannot point to one storm and go well this is clearly climate change now. this is not how science works. >> you can't point to one storm, because there've been serious storms historically in the past. but, i think it's also undeniable that our climate is changing. i mean, science has proven that. i mean, overall, so i think that it's undeniable that what we are doing as people to the environment is changing the way our climate impacts us. and we're going to have to take this very seriously. and that's why it's important that government acts responsibly to regulate environmental issues. >> richard socarides, will cain.

thanks for coming in this morning. >> still ahead, the travel chaos caused by sandy. so much of it, one major new york airport still under water. >> can you believe it? look at that. >> cnn's richard quest will have all of that information for us and what you can look for today. >> and when will it reopen, right? >> will it reopen? you're watching "early start." r. double miles you can actually use... but mr. single miles can't join his friends because he's getting hit with blackouts. shame on you. now he's stuck in a miniature nightmare. oh, thank you. but, with the capital one venture card... you can fly any airline, any flight, any time. double miles you can actually use. what's in your wallet? alec jr? it was a gift.

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46 minutes past the hour. soledad is joining us with a look at what is ahead on "starting point." >> we are assessing the damage this morning on "starting point." millions of people don't have power this morning. entire communities under water, under sand in some cases. we'll have the very latest on recovery efforts following superstorm sandy's wrath. we've got reporters all over the story, new york, new jersey. we'll talk with the mayor of

newark, cory booker is going to join us. the governor of new york george pataki, the former governor. senator bob menendez of new jersey will be joining us as well. dozens of homes were burned to the ground, many more partially burned in queens new york neighborhood. we were talking about this story. breaking news yesterday. this morning we'll talk to a man who lived in this home for 35 years. he lost everything in this disastrous fire as did his neighbors. we'll talk about what happens as they rebuild. president obama is going to get a look at the damage himself just days before the election. he'll tour the flood zones in new jersey. with someone he's often at odds with, we were talking about earlier this morning. governor chris christie. he says listen, i call them as i see them. sometimes i'll praise him, sometimes i won't. we'll talk with jen psaki from the obama campaign. that's all ahead at "starting point." >> all right, fantastic. superstorm sandy brought air and ground traffic to a halt. a grinding halt. two of the three major new york airports are reopening but look

at laguardia. closed. still. due to flooding. who knows when, if it will open any time soon. cnn's richard quest has the gloomy traffic picture for us. he is live this morning in atlanta. hey, richard. >> good morning to you, from the cnn center. yes, we have the three major airports still closed, new york, jfk, laguardia, and newark. but as you said, better news about putting a bit of a smile, is that new work is actually going to reopen. kennedy not until lunch time. but newark opens in just ten minutes from now. so hat does that mean? well if you look at the latest explorer, you can see these are jetblue planes. most of them are jetblue. that's jetblue from orlando heading up, because what happened was, the airlines got permission to start bringing the flights in. if you don't bring them in, you can't send them out. and all the airlines evacuated

the aircraft, the planes are now slowly but surely coming back in. all these planes are the ones that are heading back to kennedy at the moment. as for laguardia, well that is in a very sorry state of affairs for good reason. just as you've been showing, the sheer amount of water that you can now see on the runways, but the infrastructure. it's nobody's even putting a time or a date when laguardia could perhaps reopen. if you're traveling by plane, these are the disruptions that you'll want to know. new york mta we know about. boston is restored. philadelphia is restored. and washington, as well. but if you need to get from "a" to "b" and the plane can't take you, what about amtrak? partially restored. the rule for amtrak seems to be, north of new york, okay. south of new york, not bad.

if you're going round new york you've got problems. that's the way the travel looks this morning. >> all right, richard quest down in atlanta. thank you so much for joining us this morning. >> that is bad news. >> not good. >> ahead on "early start," the long road to recovery for the northeast. though the northeast is struggling to cope with the aftermath of superstorm sandy. if you think running a restaurant is hard, try running four. fortunately we've got ink. it gives us 5x the rewards on our internet, phone charges and cable, plus at office supply stores. rewards we put right back into our business. this is the only thing we've ever wanted to do and ink helps us do it. make your mark with ink from chase. i have a cold... i took dayquil, but i still have a runny nose. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't work on runny noses.

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the latest on superstorm sandy, president obama will be in new jersey today to get a firsthand look at the devastation. the storm is now blamed for at least 33 deaths across the east coast, 22 of them here in new york. 6.6 million people do not have

electricity across 15 states, and washington, d.c. new york subways flooded. buses will run at regular routes today. that's a little bit of good news. every vote counts, especially during this presidential election. we have some early voters to share their stories. the issues that matter most to them, who they voted for and we also wanted to know why. we are calling them votergraph. and first up a romney voter, byron thomas, he's on the right pictured with republican south carolina lawmaker. the issues he cares about are abortion and gay marriage. and this is an obama voter, amanda renn true, she says she voted early because she has two kids and didn't want to forget to do it. her big issue, affordable health care. send us your votergraph. the address, cnn.com/earlystart. we love hearing from you. today's best advice still coming up. home of the legendary grand prix circuit. the perfect place to bring the all-new cadillac ats

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just a few minutes left, as always we wrap it up with best advice. >> you know, we hear from dawson's creek actor james van der beek. >> best advice i've ever received is don't ever be afraid to ask for help. in fact, ask for help even if it makes you uncomfortable to ask for help. by pretending that you know everything, you're closing yourself off to the expertise and years of experience of all the people around you. and i think it's so natural to try to make it seem like you know what you're doing, and there's something to be said for swagger, for sure. but it took me awhile to realize people who ask for help get really, really good advice. >> and i have a big tree in my

backyard. i was wondering if you guys could help me with that? >> don't be afraid to ask for help. ask james van der beek. >> can i ask for help? >> here's your help. that is all for "early start," everyone. i'm john berman. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. "starting point" with soledad o'brien starts right now. good morning, welcome, everybody. our "starting point" this morning, surviving sandy. recovering the damage in the wake of the superstorm. nearly 7 million people remain in the dark. 33 americans killed, entire communities under water. desperate for help, thousands rescued from the floodwaters. many more of them still need help even as those waters begin to recede. 80 homes gone. fire ripped through a quiet community in queens, new york, leaves nothing but ashes. now there's danger from methane gas. at a standstill, new york city's subway system shut down. could be days before many northeast transit systems are able to get back to